It has been suggested that only the most luminous AGNs (L ≳ 1045 erg/s) are triggered by galaxy mergers, while less luminous AGNs (L ~ 1043 erg/s) are driven by other internal processes. The lack of merging features in low luminosity AGN host galaxies has been a primary argument against the idea of merger triggering of low luminosity AGNs. But a merger, especially a rather minor one, might still have played an important role in low luminosity AGNs, as minor merging features at low luminosities are more difficult to identify than major merging features. Using SNUCAM on the 1.5 m telescope at Maidanak observatory, we obtained deep optical images of NGC 7743, a barred spiral galaxy classified as a Seyfert 2 AGN with a low bolometric luminosity of 5 X 1042 erg/s. Surprisingly, we discovered a merging feature around the galaxy, which indicates past merging activity in the galaxy. This example indicates that the merging fraction of low luminosity AGNs may be much higher than previously thought, hinting at the importance of galaxy mergers even in low luminosity AGNs.

We performed statistical analysis for a nearby (0.01 < z < 0.05) volume limited (Mr < —19) sample of galaxies via visual inspection and the definition of galaxy pair systems based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 in order to conrm the effects of galaxy interaction on AGN activities. We found that local environmental effects such as galaxy interaction have an in uence on the enhancement of the frequency and the strength of the AGN activity. This article is the summary of the paper which will be submitted soon.